Disclosures to the Public Accounts Committee on Monday revealed that several procurement processes have been breached in the award of contracts by the Ministry of the Presidency and the Office of the Prime Minister.

There were quite a few cases, which included sole sourcing, accessing the Contingency Fund without proper processes being followed and paying the full contract sum upfront for incomplete contracts or undelivered goods.

The PAC was particularly alarmed that the National Intelligence Centre is yet to receive and install $19.1m worth of CCTV systems which monies had been taken from the Contingency Fund back in 2015 to procure as a matter of urgency.

When the Public Accounts Committee met on Monday it was told that the Ministry of the Presidency, through which the CCTV systems were bought, was still not in receipt of the items for which the overseas supplier had been paid the full sum in advance.

These purchases were done in 2015 under the supervision of former Permanent Secretary, Omar Shariff who was fired by the administration amid a probe into alleged financial crimes by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).

The PAC heard on Monday that Shariff, acting as the Accounting Officer had paid the overseas company for the CCTV systems using monies from the Contingency Fund on the grounds that it was urgent but more than one year later the systems are still to be delivered.

The company was identified as Moonblink Communications Inc by the current PS, Ms Abena Moore who pointed out that the Guyana Government had been purchasing from the company for the past six years.

“We were given all assurance that equipment would have been here… but apparently, the company went into bankruptcy,” she said when called upon to give an explanation to the Parliamentary Committee.

To the surprise of the PAC members, no bond was paid by the company but Moore said the Minister of State was currently speaking with the Minister of Legal Affairs to decide a way forward in the matter.

She said staff at the Ministry had been in contact with the Company’s overseas partners and the government was also considering engaging the United States Embassy here to get help.

The PAC also heard that the contract for erecting a fence and security lights at Castellani Compound was awarded through sole sourcing in the sum of $11.6 million.

While the contractor was again paid the full sum in 2015, it was later discovered that the contractor was overpaid amounts totaling $2.3m after measurements of the fence were taken.

Moore was again called on to explain what procedures were in place to recover the overpayments. She explained that the contractor had indicated that he was out of work and could not make the repayments at this time.

The PAC heard again in this matter that there was no bond in place for the contractor.

The PAC also heard about the procurement of a new Toyota Cruiser Station Wagon which was sole sourced from Beharry Automotive Limited in the sum of $13.8m for the Prime Minister’s Office.

According to the quotation, 50% of the price was to be paid in advance while the next 50% had to be paid on delivery.

However, the full amount was paid to the supplier in January 2016 via two cheques but the vehicle which should have been delivered at least six weeks later, never arrived until September 2016, seven months late.

In this case, the PAC heard that both cheques were sent in error, an excuse that was rejected by PAC Chairman, Irfaan Ali.

The PAC also heard that a Contingency Fund advance in the sum of $11m was requested by the Government Information Agency to offset liabilities to the Guyana Chronicle but vouchers showed that GINA only paid the national newspapers $9.4 million while $1.5 million was used to pay a non-taxable bonus to staff members of the agency.

The Public Accounting Committee pointed out that such a move also constitutes another breach, since monies taken from the fund is only to be used for the purposes requested or returned. (Kurt Campbell)

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